The Story of Allesandra Cullen of the Volturi
by BellaNessieCullen
Summary: Her father is the most powerful man in the vampire world and the leader of the Volturi. She is just an innocent little girl that is protected at all costs and is kept out of her fathers 'business'. What happens when an old enemy comes knocking? Will Matthew be able to save his daughter from those who consider him unworthy of leading after his grandfathers death? Canon to my stories
1. Authors Note

**WARNING: Small spoilers for the future of Forever After, it will be revealed in this story who Matthew's mate is and what (partly) happens with Esther's love life. **

**Anyone who has read my Renesmee Trilogy, Forever After or Living in Paradise, skip this A/N and go to the next chapter :) Anyone new to my world of Twilight; continue to read as it will help explain the setting of this story.**

**Aro is dead, he was killed in a war against the Cullen's, but he left behind a son, a hybrid that the Cullen's adopted as a child and raised him to be a Cullen and nothing like his father Aro. (Renesmee's Teenage Story and Renesmee's Forever). Pancrazio grew up to marry a hybrid named Chantelle and they had two children, Sophia and Matthew. Matthew left his family in America to lead the Volturi as a child (Forever After). He is now 18 years old and an adult (physically fully grown at age 7).**

**To see a picture of Allesandra and the main characters of this story, a character list and an information tab on my creation of the Moon Pool Children that may help you understand the characters in this story head over to my blog: BellaNessieCullen. Blogspot. Com**


	2. Part 1: Matthew Cullen

_**Sometimes in tragedy we find our life's purpose. – Robert Brault**_

* * *

_**Outside of Volterra, Italy, 2051.**_

_**Matthew Cullen**_

I had an unconventional childhood, something I chose myself to protect my loved ones and as I grew up I knew the one thing I would make sure i would achieve was to give my own children a normal childhood, or as close to normal as a half human half vampire hybrid could give their child. My first child was a son and he was so adamant he didn't want a normal childhood it was hard for me to keep him away from my 'business' as the leader of the Volturi, but when my daughter was born and I held her tiny self in my arms for the first time, I knew I would protect her and her innocence with my life, this little girl would be protected against all costs and would never know what it was like to have to work or lead the Volturi. For the first six months of my daughter's life she had grown to a four year old and was a true princess, she was even treated like one. This was both a blessing and a curse, I kept my children out of my work but it didn't stop people knowing who they were and how precious my children were to me. I had no idea that someone would try to hurt me by using my daughter and succeed in doing so.

"If that is all, you are all dismissed" I announced to my guard after our weekly guard meeting, we always met in the throne room for business but as leader I had introduced a new weekly meet up for my guard members to express any concerns they had about anything in particular, it stopped my personal time being taken away with work, I loved my family and I tried to spend as much time as possible with them, being the leader of the Volturi, this was a hard thing to achieve.

"Master" I heard a guard member call.

"What is it Courtney?" I asked. I noticed out the corner of my eye a familiar stuffed wolf hanging from the crack in the door, I frowned and watched Ariella walk over to the door, she was one of the few guard members allowed to interact with my children, Ariella was like a sister to me, she was my safe haven as a child when I had no family.

"Allesandra, what are you doing here?" Ariella asked my daughter, opening the door and allowing my daughter into the room, Allesandra walked into Ariella's arms and Ariella lifted her from the ground.

"I want papà" she said sadly.

"Courtney can this wait?" I asked my guard member.

"Of course master. See you tomorrow" she nodded obediently towards me and walked off. I went over to my daughter being held by Ariella.

"Allesandra you know not to come into the throne room when papà is working" I scolded her; although I couldn't bring myself to be angry with her, she looked so sad. "What is wrong bambino?"

"You haven't come to say goodnight to me" she frowned. I leant forward to kiss her forehead and take her from Ariella's arms; she tucked herself into my neck and held onto me tightly.

"Thank you Ariella, you are dismissed my friend" I told her she nodded with a smile, kissed Allesandra's forehead and went through the door to my guards chambers.

I carried my daughter to her room and lay her on her bed. Her curtains were drawn and her nightlight was on, which meant my wife had already put my daughter to bed.

"Goodnight Allesandra" I whispered into her forehead as I kissed her goodnight.

"Will you sing to me?" she asked softly before I could leave. I smiled at her and began stroking her hair soothingly. Singing to her always made her fall asleep, normally her mother would do it but she wanted me tonight and I couldn't help but oblige.

"You are my sunshine; my only sunshine,  
you make me happy when skies are grey,  
you'll never know dear, how much I love you,  
please don't take my sunshine away"

This particular song was the only one I knew, my wife sang all kinds of songs to our children, Italian, Bulgarian and English lullabies, folk songs and children's songs but I only knew one. It was the song my mother sang to me every night before I left her as a child. Allesandra had already closed her eyes and I leant forward to kiss her forehead. I loved this little girl so much it was unfathomable.

"Master" I heard my personal guard call. I left my daughter's room and closed the door tightly behind me.

"Yes?" I asked, they weren't allowed to bother me after a certain time unless it was an emergency especially in the part of the castle designated to my family and my children, this had better be important.

"We have a problem" he began I frowned and he motioned for me towards the direction of the throne room.

"What's going on?" I asked entering the room I had only just left, my guard were back in the room, and they lined the walls and stood in their positions tensely as they watched our visitors. I frowned at them, we had no visitors after a certain time, and whoever let them in had a lot of explaining to do. As I studied them I could tell they were hostile.

"Good evening Matthew" the leader answered.

"And who are you?" I asked bluntly, I was in no mood to be polite.

"My name is James and I'm here to test you."

"Test me?" I asked.

"On whether you're worthy of your heritage" I frowned deeper.

"What are you talking about?"

"You are the grandson of the late great Aro. There are some out there that don't believe you are worthy of your title after your father's betrayal. We're here to see where your loyalties lie and how far you will go to keep your… position" he worded his speech carefully.

I dropped my frown and I put my 'no emotion' mask on as my family called it. I did not like what he was saying.

"Who are you to demand such a test?" I declared.

"Oh I'm not the one who issued the test. My master did"

"Who is your master" I asked.

"I don't think I'm allowed to say," he mused with a smile, "say... did you say goodnight to your daughter?" he asked.

"Yes" I trailed off.

"Did you sing her to sleep?" he asked.

"Yes" I said determined to keep my face emotionless. I didn't bring my children into my work they were kept separate. James tilted his head as if he was listening.

"Papà" I heard my daughter scream. I didn't even hesitate before I began running towards the sound of my daughters cry. I was aware some of my personal guard were following me as I ran into my daughter's room. I was at my daughters bedside in a few seconds but she was gone and her curtains blowing in the wind. Someone took her. I grasped at her bed sheets and closed my eyes tightly. "Allesandra bambino" I whispered barely audible, I could hear her voice in my head responding to me, _"sì pap__à?"_ It sounded so real but I knew better, she wasn't here. I growled and my eyes snapped open, anger was filling me and I practically charged back to the throne room, my guard were holding onto James. I walked straight up to him, my rage at boiling point.

"Where is she?" I glared at him.

"Loyalties" he teased me.

"My loyalties are to my daughter, where is she?" I yelled.

"Probably dead" he laughed. It took everything in me not to pull his head off.

"Shall we kill him master?" Courtney asked me, I shook my head, my anger falling from my face, inside I was boiling alive but I didn't want James to get the satisfaction of seeing me like this, I was determined not to show any emotion what so ever until the moment I had her back. I was in 'Aro mode' now.

"Put him in the dungeons" I said then turned to my guard "Steven, David follow her scent, everyone else search the castle and the grounds! Ezra… get my father on the phone." I commanded and started walking to the back of the room and exited through the door that led to my families wing of the castle, my guard members were rushing past me to search the castle but I already knew in my heart they would not find her, who ever had taken her had used James as a distraction, my entire guard were in that room, no one to hear them taking Allesandra until it was too late, my son and wife were sleeping and they had no idea what had just happened, my heart sank and the thought of telling them. I went straight to my son's room. He was fast asleep in his bed, he was only three but that made him physically twelve, I didn't want to wake him to tell him his sister had gone. I was determined to get her back before the morning. I strode to my chambers where I knew my wife was sleeping. How was I supposed to tell her this?

"Master" Peter caught up to me, yet another member of my guard. "We have searched the castle, not a sign of your daughter. The trackers have not returned yet though, they may have a trail" he told me. I nodded in response but turned to my chamber door and entered the room. My wife was fast asleep, her blonde hair scattered over the pillow.

"Love" I said, my voice cracking with emotion.

"Matthew?" she gasped and turned to look at my face at the side of our bed, she frowned. I wasn't lying next to her like I would be normally by this time. Tears were already falling from my eyes.

"Something's happened" I managed to tell her.

"Matthew what's wrong?" she gasped, sitting up in the bed and her hand coming to my cheek.

"Alexandra" I said using the English variant of my daughter's name, I was part Italian, part American, my family were American and so both my children had American names that only family used and Italian names that were widely known by vampires and what my guard were required to call them. This helped them separate their lives and they knew what persona to wear. As Matthew Cullen's children they were just children, babies even, as the leader of the Volturi's children they were powerful and they demanded and controlled the guard.

"What about her?" she asked.

"She's been taken" I said, my tears threatening to pour from my eyes. My wife frowned at me.

"What do you mean shes been taken?" she asked.

"She's gone" I sobbed. "But I'll get her back" I told her strongly, she was looking at me in disbelief, I almost expected her to laugh and call me a liar but my face must have given me away, I was distraught and she knew it, her tears were now filling her eyes as she stared at my face. She suddenly jumped from the bed and ran to the door; I followed her as she ran to our daughters chambers. She broke down when she saw her bed was empty. I fell to my knees at her side and pulled her into my chest. I was determined not to just break down at cry with her.

"Master" I heard Ezra behind me, he held the phone out. "Your father." I let go of my wife and she crawled over to Allesandra's bed and climbed on top to hug our daughters favourite stuffed animal, it was of a wolf and she had named it William after her Quileute shape shifter uncle, she had only met him once as he lived in America with my sister Sophia but she had loved him and her aunt the second she saw them, William had gifted her with the stuffed animal so she would always have him with her where ever she went. Amongst everything that happened part of me was sad for her knowing she didn't even have her favourite toy where ever she was. She would be lost without it, she carried it everywhere.

"Thank you Ezra" I told him snapping out of my thoughts. I pulled the phone to my ear and I suddenly couldn't say anything, my throat was tight and the lump was throbbing, threatening tears any second.

"Matthew? Is everything ok?" I heard my father ask. Hearing the reassuring tone of my father allowed me to finally speak. Everything ran through my head in less than a second, I needed to be strong, I would bring my daughter back, I wouldn't stand here and cry over her disappearance. I would find her, I, leader of the Volturi, grandson of Aro would go to the ends of the earth to bring my little girl home and the ends of the earth just happened to be my family in America.

"No father. I need you, I need everyone in Italy. The entire family. Bella, Eddie, Edward, anyone remotely powerful, Alice, Jasper too" I said, I controlled my emotions easily as I spoke to my father but out of the corner of my eye I could see my wife crying silently.

"Why Matthew what is going on?" he asked but I already knew he was running to the Cullen house as I spoke.

"Someone is testing me, saying that I don't deserve to be leading the Volturi after grandfather's death. They took Alexandra as a test... they took my daughter" I said, emotion breaking through at the last second. I swallowed hard, I had to be strong.

"Matthew we'll be there as soon as possible. Did they tell you what you'd have to do to get her back?" he asked.

"No. The messenger wouldn't tell me who the person conducting this is. I have him held up in the dungeons he said she's probably dead" I told him, I heard my wife let out an involuntary sob as I said the word 'dead'.

"I don't think she's dead Matthew" he told me. "Ive just put you on loud speaker, im at the Cullen's" he added. I did the same so my wife could hear what he was saying, I knew she could hear the phone because she was a child of a moon pool vampire but I thought I'd make it easier for her.

"Why not?" I asked him.

"She's too valuable, far too valuable. They wouldn't kill her whilst she's still useful; your daughter is alive Matthew. I know it. He said that to rattle you, he wanted you to show some emotion, show anger, and probably kill him. You did the right thing Matthew." He assured me; I felt a tiny bit better hearing that from my father. We paused in our conversation whilst he caught up the rest of our family. In the mean time I had sat down on the edge of my daughter's bed and I was stroking my wife's hair, she still had silent tears falling from her eyes but she was looking at the phone curiously, she had hope. Good.

"She's not dead love" I told her. "We will get her back. We have the most powerful people on our side. Our family will help I know it"

"Matthew we'll be there in twelve hours." I heard Carlisle on the other end. "Is there anyone you particularly want to come? We have kids here." He reminded me.

"I know I understand. Bella, Eddie and Chloe if possible and of course my mother and father"

"Of course Matthew." he responded. "Do you need me to contact Esther?"

"No, Lidiya will do that for me."

"Ok Matthew, we'll get her back I promise you, no one messes with my family" Carlisle said and the phone cut off.

"Im going to wake Anelie and Tony" I told my wife. She nodded. "Nothing will happen to Allesandra, I know you won't let her die" I told her and walked out the room. I knew I had to talk to my wife properly but she was too distraught at the moment, she probably hadn't realised but she had ultimate control of the outcome, she could manifest death and ultimately controlled it. She could deny anything death but I knew she'd need her sister to bring Allesandra back permanently if anything happened. It was the complexity of the Life and Death twins.

"Papà? What's happening?" my son asked, he was rubbing his eyes and standing outside his door.

"Nothing sunshine go back to bed" I told him.

"Why are you in your robes?" he asked. My children knew if I was in my red robe I was working.

"I'm working go back to bed Ben" I told him.

"Anything I can help with?" he asked, my son always wanted to help, he wanted to lead with me one day but right now I wanted him to have a childhood. I didn't get one so I'd make sure he did, at least to some extent.

"Go back to bed Benjamin" I told him.

"Papà!" he exclaimed.

"Go back to bed!" I ordered him; he flinched at my raised voice and went back into his room, slamming the door behind him. I had no time to worry about my son.

"Ezra" I called. I knew he wasn't far.

"Yes master?"

"I want you stationed outside my son's bedroom. Don't let anyone in or out unless it's me or my wife, you will ignore Beniamino's orders until I return, understand?" he asked.

"Yes master" he nodded and put his back to my son's door. I left Ezra with my son and headed towards Anelie and Tony's room. I knocked lightly at the door. I was dreading telling them what happened, both Anelie and Tony were family and they adored Allesandra.

"Come in" I heard Anelie call. I entered the room slowly.

"Matthew…? I mean master?" Anelie asked.

"I told you, you don't have to call me master when we're alone" I rolled my eyes, Anelie was my sister in law and my family, not my guard, not in my head, she just helped out because I married her sister and she couldn't be away from Lidiya for too long.

"Sorry. Is everything ok?" she asked.

"No, you need to go see your sister, she's very upset" I told her. Anelie gasped then.

"I can feel her" she said sadly. "What the hell happened? Ive never felt this kind of pain from Lidiya before" she gasped, tears flooding her eyes but not falling just yet, Tony watched his imprint with a frown of concern.

"Allesandra, shes been taken. I need you to contact your mother, Lidiya is in no state to do it herself, I need your mothers help to interrogate the messenger and to track Alexandra maybe"

"She's still not mastered Chloe's ability; it might be hard for her to track her. Haven't you got David and Steven after her?" she asked. Esther could copy any ability, she had dozens at her disposal but it took her months sometimes years to master a new ability, she wasn't born with them so she had to learn how to control and use each ability she picked up, the trickiest abilities for her to learn were tracking abilities, Chloe, who married Edward and Bella's son Eddie had a tracking ability that Esther had been trying to perfect for years and had only just started to use aspects of it fifty years after obtaining it.

"Yes but they'd be back by now if they'd found her" I said sadly.

"Have you contacted our family?" Tony asked me as he got out of bed and started getting dressed.

"Yes, they're on their way. Everyone that's gifted anyway, Eddie, Edward, Bella, Alice, Jasper, Chloe, Chantelle and Zio and probably Carlisle and Esme too and Emmett and Rose, I'm not sure if your parents are coming" I told him. He was Renesmee and Jacob Black's son but they had a huge family and I knew as much as they loved me as their nephew, they weren't exactly needed in a mission like this, it was a rescue mission and the more people that can get hurt the more people to protect and since both Renesmee and Jacob were mostly human they wouldn't want to jeopardise anything.

"Maybe my father, I doubt Will would come because of his kids, he'll probably send at least a few wolves if he had a choice though"

"I didn't think Jacob had command anymore" I asked. Jacob wasn't alpha anymore; he was the chief, he had handed the pack to his eldest son William, who happened to be my sister's husband and imprinter.

"No but in important situations he will, if Will is unavailable and the other alphas are away from La Push, he's default the next Alpha, he's the most skilled wolf, the oldest except Leah… maybe Leah and Zac will come" he said suddenly hopeful then. I knew he missed his twin, I offered Leah and Zac a place here but they wanted to travel first, we often got postcards from all around the world from them. As Tony and I spoke i looked over to Anelie who had her eyes closed.

"What's she doing?" I asked.

"She is calling her mother" Tony answered. I raised my eyebrows.

"Right" I mumbled, Lidiya did that too, they could talk in their heads, Lidiya often told me she was talking to her mother, that's how they communicate and Esther was only a few miles away. As moon pool children they had genetic telepathic abilities, Lidiya and Anelie were connected in more ways than imaginable, they weren't just twins, sometimes it was like they were the same person. It wasn't just each other they were like that with; other children of the moon pool were the same.

"Well if she could come help I will be extremely grateful" I called to Anelie hoping Esther would hear or something. Anelie's eyes opened, I knew Esther would come, it was her granddaughter after all but I still liked to be polite.

"She and Zac are on their way." Zac was her boyfriend, or mate, I wasn't quite sure, they had a long complicated history and it hurt my head to think of my mother in law's love live, she was a three thousand five hundred year old Moon Pool vampire and I knew she had at least two past lovers in the guard currently, plus this Zac guy who had been the childhood best friend of my mother Chantelle and her adoptive cousin and sister for all intents and purposes, Renesmee who also happened to be the mother of Esther's daughters shape shifter husband, Tony.

The next twelve hours were torturous. I went to see the prisoner but he wouldn't say a thing, Esther managed to get into his mind but he had never seen his leader. He was told by phone what to do. He had literally told me everything he knew. She then proceeded to torture him with Jane's ability of pain, I had to give Esther props, she was a badass and it shocked me even more when she pulled his head from his shoulders and said 'that's for kidnapping my granddaughter'.

My trackers came back after hours of searching with no news, I knew then who it must have been. There is only one person in this world that can hide from my trackers, someone who could mask scents and remove any trace of someone being somewhere. He had done it for me when I left my family all them years ago, I had to make them forget who I was and fabricate an alternative life they lived where I didn't exist and to remove my scent and any trace of me Lucien used his ability to do it. Either Lucien was in on my daughter's abduction or he was conducting the entire thing. I shook with anger at the thought, I had been kind to him, after everything he did for me, I didn't kill him for hurting my sister, and I now knew that was the biggest mistake of my life. I should have killed him, I should have served him on a plate to my sisters shape shifter husband and I should have watched William tear Lucien apart for causing the miscarriage of their child, instead I showed him mercy and I let him go.

I felt sick at what I had done, how was I supposed to explain this to Lidiya, my wife, the mother of my children, the woman who was in so much pain with the absence of her daughter? I decided I would tell her my thoughts after Allesandra was back with us, there was no need to allow my guilt to eat away at me, I would admit it all to her when we were happy again, and if she still loved me then we'd move on, if she didn't then I didn't know what to do.

I didn't sleep, I just couldn't, my son woke up and I had to let him out of his room and painfully explain to him that his baby sister was gone. He was angry and wanted to help but I told him that I couldn't worry about him too. He needed to stay safe so I had two guard members act as bodyguards for him so I didn't have to worry about him every second. My wife was a mess, she hadn't slept either and she was always crying. She was just making me weak being around her, her mother and sister were with her most of the time but as much as I loved her I couldn't be with her right now. I would bring our daughter back and whilst every part of me wanted to comfort her and tell her it will be ok I knew I had to act. I had to be the leader of the Volturi and I had to bring our daughter back.

I watched as the private jet landed and my family poured out. I ran into my mother's arms and she hugged me tightly.

"Oh sunshine" she gasped. I was determined not to cry but it was hard being with my mother, I felt like a child all over again. I pulled away and my father pulled me into a hug.

"We'll get her back" he said, I handed them two robes.

"You need these" I told them. They frowned.

"We're not Volturi Matthew" Chantelle reminded me.

"You are until my daughter is returned" I said as my personal guard handed robes to my other family members.

"Well at least they're jet black" Eddie smiled.

"Most powerful around." I managed to smile at my moon pool uncle.

"And don't you forget it" he said pulling on his black robe proudly. "How come Zio gets a red one?" he asked.

"He's my father"

"So? He's not a Volturi leader"

"He's Aro's son. He gets a red robe" I declared. "He should be the one in charge not me."

I had no idea giving my father that cloak that day would be the day my father became a true leader of the Volturi and I'd never have to lead alone again.

I turned and led my family back into the castle.

"Eddie!" Esther exclaimed and ran to meet her best friend. "Chloe" she added and they all hugged.

"Where is Lidy?" Chloe asked.

"Inside with Anelie"

"It must be awful for her" Chloe gasped sadly. I zoned out the conversation, I couldn't hear Esther explain how bad my wife was. I could barely handle thinking about it.

"Come on son, we've got work to do" my father told me and slipped his robe on. He looked like he belonged when he wore that robe, I would never say it but he was meant to be the leader of the Volturi, not me. I walked past Esther, Anelie, Chloe and Eddie and straight back into the castle.

"Round up the guard" I ordered the first guard member I saw.

"Yes master" they replied and scurried off like a rat. It was a new member, Samuel I think his name was. I led my family to the throne room, my father at my side and I was aware Esther was following with Eddie. Anelie and Chloe must have gone to see Lidiya.

"Father stand next to me" I told him.

"Im not a leader" he reminded me.

"You are now" I glared at him.

"Matthew" he sighed.

"Until my daughter is back in my arms you are! Please father, I can't do this without you" I begged him. His scowl broke into a sympathetic frown; he pulled me into a quick hug.

"Ok" he whispered.

"Pancrazio" my mother hissed.

"Until Alexandra is back with us" he informed her, I knew my mother didn't like the idea of my father being in the Volturi but he had been since the day he was born and she had to get over it. I took my father's hand and walked into the throne room, the lower area in front of the stage was full of my guard members, all in their variant shades of black robes. I stood at the front with my father, those standing behind us were most of my vampire family. Tony had been wrong, they didn't send any wolves, I didn't know if I was glad or not, maybe Jacob had assumed Tony could handle it. Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Bella, Emmett, Rose, Alice, Jasper, Eddie, Esther and my mother were here. All in jet black robes, I knew they didn't all like the robes, especially Bella and Esme but they had to wear them whilst they were here, otherwise my guard would not recognise them as powerful in this castle, to protect them and to show my guard they had power they had to be Volturi for the time they spent with us. Each of them had visited more than once and during their stay I had explained to them the rules and they had accepted, some more reluctantly than others, I had to remind each and every one that this wasn't Aro's Volturi, this was my Volturi, I didn't lead like my grandfather. I wasn't brutal, I wasn't power hungry and I wasn't cruel. I knew I had to be different than that, I gave people a chance. Something I used to think was a redeeming quality I had kept from the short upbringing I had from the Cullen's but right now it was something I despised about myself, this was the reason my daughter wasn't here. I had given Lucien a chance and he had used it to fight against me.

_**End of Part 1.**_


	3. Part 2: Pancrazio Cullen

_**Pancrazio Cullen**_

We spent the day making plans, there was a message at ten o'clock the day after Allesandra was taken. 'She will be returned to you at twenty one hundred hours, but be prepared to fight for her oh mighty leader.' And with no signature but Matthew was convinced he knew who was doing this he thought it was Lucien, he was the first leader of the Volturi after Aro's death, and he was the one to bring the scattered Volturi back together. It had been his idea to bring Matthew into the guard and to train him to become leader, only when Matthew found out that he had caused his sisters, my daughters, miscarriage, Matthew told him to leave the guard and to never return. I knew he blamed himself for letting him free and allowing him to do this.

"Bella, Eddie and Esther will go straight for Alexandra. Anelie and Lidiya remain out of the room until Alexandra is safely in their shield and she will be handed to her mother as soon as possible. Benjamin will remain in the castle with Zac, Ezra and Ariella, Ariella will boost as many of us as possible before we enter the throne room." I eyed Ariella carefully, I had never hated anyone as much as I hated her, even my own father who raped my mother and wanted to use me to breed him a hybrid army with Chantelle and Renesmee. Ariella had manipulated Matthew into leaving us as a child, I spent years seeing my wife in pain, knowing something was drastically wrong with her but not knowing what it was, I then went through months of not believing her when she told us we had a son, Chantelle and I had never had marriage problems before but the three years of not knowing Matthew had taken an immense toll on our marriage, we had moved past it and came out even stronger in the end but I will forever remember them years of seeing Chantelle so confused, her waking up screaming from nightmares of this mysterious child she so desperately needed to protect and couldn't. That was Ariella's fault and whenever I saw her face I remember her lies and the pain she caused my wife and the childhood my son never had. I only tolerated her presence because I knew she was a friend to Matthew, even though she took away his childhood and manipulated him into coming here, Matthew told me she was the only friend he had for a while and comforted him when there was no one else around, he insisted she kept him alive and so I agreed to tolerate her presence.

"Why don't we just freeze them all in place and run in and get Alexandra?" Bella asked looking to Esther, "we have both Esther and Ezra, they have the same ability"

"We can try that but it doesn't hold long" Esther explained.

"Lucien knows the abilities we have, if he is declaring war, telling me I have to fight for my daughter, he has something up his sleeve we don't know about. Ezra's ability isn't going to stop them, Lucien wouldn't dare face us without a guarantee he would stand a chance." Matthew said.

"What does he have that we don't?" Zac asked looking to Esther proudly. "We have literally every ability you can think of"

"Esther is powerful but she can be caught off guard, she isn't indestructible" Eddie told him, Zac didn't like that; he glared slightly as if to tell Eddie to back off. "You shouldn't just expect Esther to be able to save the day all the time, you're so ignorant, and she isn't _God_. I get shes powerful but I actually care about her coming out of this alive" Eddie told Zac. It was no doubt Esther was powerful, not only was her ability to learn other abilities but she was a moon pool child, an extremely rare form of a vampire, there were only three currently alive to this day and only five to ever have lived, Eddie Cullen being one of them. Esther was the original Moon Pool child and the older a moon pool child is the faster, stronger and more enhanced they are, Esther had an impressive hearing range and was extremely intelligent, sometimes I think she played dumb so she didn't seem so superior all the time, she was extremely modest about herself and didn't like to be reminded of her supremacy.

"Don't you dare tell me about what I care about! I love that woman, I have since I was a teenager, far more than you ever loved her" Zac said.

"Calm down" Chloe glared at her best friend and her husband. "He didn't say you didn't care about Esther."

"Now is not the time for this!" Chantelle yelled at her friends. "My granddaughter has been abducted, I don't give a damn who cares about Esther the most, Zac grow up and get over your on-going pathetic hatred of Eddie, he won Chloe's heart. Get. Over. It. You don't need to hate him forty years later." She glared at Zac. Everyone was silent, all watching Chantelle. "I want to hug my granddaughter and tell her how much I love her, im sure many of you want to do the same, so let's get her back!" She demanded and threw her hands on the table so they made a loud noise before she kicked her chair back and stormed out the room. We were all silent.

"For the record, I don't care that Eddie won Chloe. I love Esther" Zac said quietly.

"Shut up Zac" I mumbled. He did and looked down to his hands. I saw Rosalie start to stand up, I shook my head and I stood up from my seat. I left the room to find my wife in the bedroom we were using whilst we were here. She was sobbing on the bed.

"Chanti" I sighed as I reached her, I pulled her from the bed and onto my lap, she cried into me.

"We'll get her back" I promised her.

In reality I had no idea if we'd get her back but seeing my family like this, seeing my son and my daughter in law so sad I had to believe it would get better.

The time nine pm came the entire guard was on alert, we didn't know what was going to happen, do we go to them? Where were we going? Were they coming to us? The clock in the throne room struck nine and the doors bounced open and hit the walls with a slam. Someone walked into the room.

"Follow me" they announced and turned back to the door. I looked to Matthew and he nodded. The entire guard and our family followed the person out the throne room and the castle, across the grounds and towards the outskirts of Volterra, the closer I got to this city the worse I felt. This was where I was born; I had too many memories of this place. They didn't lead us to the old Volturi lair though they led us to an abandoned building made entirely of wood. We entered the building into a large room, it was clear all the walls had been knocked down to make the building one big room, the wood was piled in the centre of the room in the style of a bonfire, it was clear they expected there to be deaths. Matthew and I remained at the front of the guard, everyone else lined behind us. Lidiya and Anelie to the right of Matthew with Tony in wolf form and Chantelle to the left of me. They would all step back the moment the fight broke out but until then they remained at our side. I scanned the room immediately. There were fifteen people including the one that brought us here. In the far corner of the room I saw a limp body of a child, of Allesandra. I heard Chantelle gasp when she followed my gaze.

"Shes not dead" Lidiya said strongly, I don't know what Matthew had done to make her stop crying but she was standing, hand in hand with her sister and she wasn't sad, she was emotionless, she was strong and she was Death, only she knew if Allesandra was dead or not. She was too far to hear a heartbeat, the room was huge.

It was then that Lucien walked in with a huge grin on his face. Matthew had been right.

"I knew you'd bring them" was the first thing Lucien said. "When everything goes bad you always want your mommy and daddy" he teased Matthew, Matthew remained emotionless. "Like the look of your daughter?" Lucien asked, I looked back at Allesandra to see she was tied to a wooden pillar and her head hanged forward with her long brown hair covering her face. I quickly looked around the room assessing the building, I had been right, it was mostly wood. When that fire is set alight it wouldn't take long before the entire room was on fire, including the post Allesandra was tied to. She suddenly gasped and lifted her head, she tried to pull on the restraints but she couldn't move. She looked to us across the room and her eyes widened.

"Mamma! Papà!" She screamed. I watched as both Matthew and Lidiya barely reacted. "Papà" she cried again, her call was tugging at my heart strings. "Papà!" She screamed a heart wrenching scream.

"I think Allesandra wants you" Lucien teased Matthew.

"Eddie, Esther, Bella" Matthew declared. I watched as Anelie and Lidiya took a step back towards the door, hidden behind the guard. Eddie, Bella and Esther took a step forward.

"Ah yes, the shields" Lucien grinned, go ahead, see if you can get to her before she burns alive, your precious life and death twins can't save her if there's nothing left to save" he grinned and tossed something into the middle of the room, the wood set alight. I realised then that Lucien knew he didn't stand a chance, not with Anelie and Lidiya but he was making time, the fighters were to distract us whilst he burnt Allesandra alive.

"Now!" Matthew called. We all started running towards Allesandra before the flames engulfed her, she was screaming out for Matthew and it ran through my body as adrenaline, we needed to get to her, and fast. The entire place would be in flames in minutes, if not less. Bella, Eddie and Esther took a step forward, they weren't able to run to her, their concentration would break and the shields would drop so they had a minute to make it across the room whilst we fought off anyone that got in their way, the people stopping us knew that they just had to hold us off long enough for the fire to reach the girl, I wondered how Lucien had brought together so many people to die and were willing to let a child die in the process.

"Esther!" I yelled. "Freeze them" I told her. She tried to freeze our attackers but shook her head.

"They have something stopping it. I can't." She answered. It didn't matter anyway, people were dropping dead left right and centre, some without even being torn apart, I looked back to see Lidiya hand in hand with Anelie at her side, she was looking from enemy to enemy, killing them in a single thought, she left Lucien alone though, I assumed she was leaving Matthew to deal with him.

"Concentrate on getting Allesandra!" Matthew told Esther as he collided with Lucien, Lucien laughed manically.

"Your loyalties are in the wrong place. You're attacking me when your daughter is dying" he told him.

"I don't understand your test" Matthew yelled at him.

"Your test was whether you called your family, and you did. You failed. You are no Volturi." He told him. "We took you too late. You were already too emotionally invested. I should have come for you sooner"

"You came just at the right time, you made me relentless when it comes to family" Matthew declared and reached to touch him just once, probably forcing him to forget who any of us were. "You can thank Ariella for this" he chimed.

"Wha- what just happened?" Lucien asked.

"You died" Matthew told him and grabbed him by the arm and threw him into the growing fire.

"PAPÀ!" I heard Allesandra scream, my head whipped around from where I was watching Matthew to Allesandra, my heart stopped at the sight. The wood around her was on fire. Bella, Eddie and Esther were drastically climbing over the falling building towards her but it was too late. I watched as the wood around her set alight and she screamed out. I couldn't watch, I only had one thought, _stop Lidiya from seeing this_. I ran to Lidiya who was only a few feet from me and pulled her away from her sister and into my chest and faced her away.

She was in shock as she leant against my chest, I wouldn't let her go, I wouldn't let her witness this. After a few seconds she started to struggle, as if she realised what I was doing.

"No Lidy, you don't need to see this" I told her, my voice cracking with emotion, I knew what was happening behind me and I couldn't bring myself to watch. I was less human than her, she wasn't as strong as me and I would do everything in my power to stop her seeing this.

"No my baby, my Allesandra!" She cried, she was speaking Bulgarian as she collapsed into my chest and sobbed. I looked over my shoulder to see Esther, Eddie and Bella had stopped and Esther was on the floor on her knees, Eddie had his arms around her in comfort. Allesandra had stopped screaming and I dropped my grasp on Lidiya.

"No" she cried hysterically, I felt my own tears flood from my eyes as I slumped in defeat.

I wanted to scream in rage. I was boiling in anger, I needed to kill something, destroy something, murder someone. But I didn't, I sat there slumped over, utterly defeated.

"Alexandra!" Matthew screamed, I turned and watched as he and Lidiya ran through the room, the fire was wild and spreading, it wouldn't be long before the building fell down.

"Matthew!" Chantelle called out to our son, he was running straight to the fire, where his daughter had been burnt alive right in front of us.

"Alexandra" both he and Lidiya were sobbing.

"Bring her back! Bring her back why did you let her die?" he yelled at his wife.

"She didn't let her die Matthew!" Esther defending her daughter standing up from Eddie's embrace. "If she denied her death she would be stuck in limbo, she did the right thing by letting her go" Lidiya was sobbing where the fire was still burning Allesandra's remains.

"Anelie" he sobbed, still trying to find an answer. Everyone had stopped now. The fight was over, we won the fight but so had Lucien. We stood there as we watched Matthew and Lidiya cry for their daughter. Chantelle walked over to me and I held her securely to my chest, she was sobbing for our granddaughter.

"I can't Matthew. There's no body. Shes gone" Anelie cried, she fell to her knees next to Lidiya and they hugged.

The life and death twins, the most powerful two people on this planet and fire had beaten them, they could bring back almost anything and anyone but not this.

"Put the fire out!" I demanded the nearest guard member; "find extinguishers, there must be buildings near here!" I commanded them, they nodded, ran out the building and it wasn't long before they returned with fire extinguishers. It was starting to get really smoky in this room and the part human of us wouldn't be able to breathe much longer, Chantelle was already coughing into my chest.

"Lidy no!" Esther grabbed her daughter when she tried to run to where Alexandra had been, she was all but a pile of bones now. The worst part was if she was pure human, she'd be dead but the fire wouldn't have burnt away her flesh, she would be badly burnt but her body would still be there and Anelie would have been able to bring her back to life and Lidiya would be able to heal her, but the vampire or moon pool, whatever you wanted to call it in her made her incredibly flammable, just like everyone in this room, it had burnt her to ash and bone.

"The moon pool! It will save her right?" Lidiya asked her mother.

"There's nothing left Lidy" Esther told her daughter, tears falling from her own eyes. Lidiya broke down for a second time, and she cried hysterically in her mother's arms. Everyone was watching in silence as Esther tried desperately to comfort her broken daughter.

My heart was heavy and hung painfully in my chest. The entire room was silent except for Lidiya's distraught sobs, she wasn't the only one crying but she was the loudest. The guard had managed to put the flames out where Allesandra had been but the building was still on fire, the flames had spread so much faster than I anticipated and it was only seconds before the building was going to fall.

"We have to get out of here" I said, my voice weak and grief radiated from me. "The building is about to fall" I announced and pulled my wife back towards the door. Others started to follow me, Matthew lifted Lidiya into his arms as if he was cradling a child and he was the last to walk out, tears streaming down his angelic face as the building collapsed behind him.

_**6 months later.**_

The sun shone brightly through my chamber window, I dressed in my dark red robe and walked over to open the only window in the room, it was a warm spring morning and as I opened the latch something caught my eye, the white marble angel statue that stood over where Allesandra's bones lay was sparkling in the sun, the light danced off the angels wings and the flowers that surrounded Allesandra's memorial seemed to stretch in the morning sun as if they were waking for the day, they blossomed and swayed in the gentle breeze and I was momentarily awestruck at the beauty of the picture.

I was briefly aware of someone knocking and Chantelle letting them into our chambers.

"Master Pancrazio, the court is starting" I heard Ezra call softly behind me; I pulled my eyes from the sight outside my window and turned to my guard member, nodding my head and leaving the room hastily.

I entered the throne room to see guests had already been let in.

"I have come to ask for your help" the vampire announced. I walked over and sat on my throne. I drilled my fingers absent mindedly against the arm rest; this was how each and every boring day started and I ached for the clock to tick midday when I could go hunting or be with my wife.

"With what?" I asked. Not even looking at the vampire, I was aware Matthew sitting next to me, he was watching the vampire but there was no life in his eyes. After Alexandra's death he had turned into the most brutal leader I had ever seen, he ordered kill orders on anyone that he deemed fit to die; he showed no forgiveness and no compassion to anyone. I pulled him aside and told him to snap out of it, in response to that he went catatonic. I knew I had to take over, I had to take his place, I needed to save his sanity, he needed to grieve and he needed to move on but he couldn't do that when he was in charge of the Volturi, he had been so strong during the time Alexandra was missing that he didn't let one second of his time be wasted crying over her, he had to get her back. The day she died it turned him positively relentless. He needed to blame someone; he needed to kill everything that stood in his way, this was sending him insane, not grieving was the worst thing he could do as a parent. I had watched my daughter grieve the loss of her first child and although it killed me to watch, she got better and Matthew needed to do the same. I had taken his robe from him and told him to take his wife away from here, I would take care of his son but he and Lidiya needed to leave, they needed to grieve together and find each other again. They had and came back different people. Matthew now sat at my side, only a shell of who he used to be but he was slowly gaining himself back again, I knew one day he would be the Matthew he was before Alexandra's death but we were vampires and we loved intensely and he had loved his daughter deeply, it would take him years, decades and maybe centuries to be able to speak about her without getting angry or upset, I knew Lidiya was the same but they would get better. I knew it and in the mean time I would do everything in my power to save my sons sanity and to keep him alive, even if it was only just. Esther moved permanently into the castle to be with her daughters and support Lidiya, Chantelle and I moved to Italy, and Jasper, Alice, Rose and Emmett followed us. They helped out with Benjamin, he was angry a lot since his sister's death, all he wanted to do was kill anyone that he didn't know personally and he blamed everyone for losing his sister.

I was born to lead the Volturi and that was what I would do, for as long as I had to, because I knew I would not desert my son now. Eventually we would go back to America and probably rule the vampire world from there but for now half the Cullen's were uprooted to Italy. I knew our family didn't mind, they just wanted to be near us, to be honest having Jasper here reminded me who I was, I was not Volturi, I was a Cullen and I would lead the guard and this world as a Cullen and not as Aro's son, Jasper had trained me, he had taught me, he had loved me and he had helped me as a child see who I could be, who I wanted to be, I didn't have to be like my father, I didn't have to be a cruel leader, as a child I always knew I'd come back here, come back to lead and rule the vampire world but when I grew older and I married and had children I thought maybe that day may never come but it had, i was here, but not as Aro's son.

As Jasper Hale's son and I would lead the Volturi in a way that would make _him_ proud.

_**The End.**_


End file.
